Badinage
by Fallen Ark Angel
Summary: In which Steph tells Shane what she did over the weekend. And, against his will (and not purposely on hers), who. But mostly what. - One-shot.


"This is a welcomed sight."

Stephanie frowned, glancing up from the stapled packet of papers she was going over to stare up at her older brother.

"And what's that?" she asked as Shane made a face down at her. At the moment, they were at one of the arenas, the place being prepped for the show in, oh, ten hours, give or take. She was seated in one of the halls, on an unused storage box (it was more for show, when one of the matches would spill into the backstage area later on), and cocked her head to the side.

"You without...you know."

Rolling her eyes then, she went back to the sheet of paper. "He's here. In a meeting. That's the only reason I showed up so early."

"Figured."

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"That you're lazy."

Another eye roll. Then, "If you were supposed to be in that meeting, you're super late. And if I were you, I'd turn back around, fake sick, and not show up until right before the show. Maybe Dad will buy it."

"Doubt it. And no." Slowly, her older brother moved to sit down on the huge trunk with her, Steph giving him a full glance then. "Just got bored, sitting up at the hotel."

"You could have tried sleeping."

"Can't sleep."

"Why? Is something going on?"

He gave her this funny stare. "Just my little sister meeting her on-screen husband's parents for the first time."

She stuck her tongue out a bit at that before going back to the pages once more. It looked like one of the basic outlines for the evening's show.

"I never took you as one to gossip."

"This isn't gossip. This is just a big brother looking out for his little sister." He smiled that time, down at her. "How was it?"

"It wasn't...horrible, but I could tell that they..." She glanced around then, as if to be sure that they were alone. A random stage hand passed, down the hall, but other than that, they were alone. "I think they really think that he screwed things up, you know, getting with me."

"Well, yeah, because he did."

"Shane-"

"On the work front, on the personal life front-"

"You're not being a very good big brother right now."

"Continue, Steph."

She only shrugged. "What do you want me to stay?"

"Well, I don't know. Did you guys, like, have to stay with them?"

"Thank God no," she breathed with a shake of her head. Lifting her eyes to stare up at her brother, she said, "He has, like, a super nice house in New Hampshire. Remember?"

"Why would I remember that? I didn't know where he lived or how close it was to his parents." Shane elbowed her. "So you stayed in his house, huh?"

"Yeah, it was really nice. I mean, awkward, of course," she was quick to add. "Considering."

"Considering."

"I mean, she did live there with him for a long time."

"Uh-huh."

"And...I dunno. It wasn't awkward for long because-"

"Gross, Steph."

"What? I didn't- Oh, no, that's not what I meant, Shane." Then, just to get under his skin a bit, she gave him a devious grin as she said, "Although, we did definitely screw, in case you were wondering."

"You're about to lose your caring ear." He moved as if to push up from the box, but Steph only dropped the papers in her lap before reaching over to grab his arm, keeping him there. "Seriously."

"You are the one that asked."

"About you meeting his parents," he clarified. "Not anything else."

Letting go of his arm, Step sat up taller before saying, "Well, after stopping off at his house, which you apparently don't want to know about-"

"I really don't."

"-we headed over to his parents place," she finished. "And it was really nerve wracking, you know? Normally I'm the one that freaks guys out when they have to meet Vince. Not the other way around."

"Well, you did sort of ruin their son's relationship and nearly lost him his job, multiple times, but-"

"Too soon," she complained, but honestly Stephanie was a bit relieved. Her brother hadn't been very pleased with her and she even less with him recently, seeing his attitude as him taking their father's side over hers. Which, fine, he probably was, but he expected her to realize that it was the right side. Hers was the wrong. Plain and simple. It wasn't okay to cheat and it definitely wasn't okay to lie.

He felt like he had to start stalking her or something and make sure she didn't add stealing to her list of delinquent acts…

Hearing him joke about it with her though, rather than scold her or try and act like a second father (as if she needed two Vinces; yeah right) was nice. They were so many years apart that, at times, he did find the latter role more appropriate and fine, sometimes having a flaky father like Vince did lead to her needing some of her older brother's guidance, but not in the current situation. She knew, deep down, that she was wrong. She was obviously in the wrong.

She just hadn't cared. And hearing about how wrong she was wasn't going to change anything. Literally nothing at all.

"So anyways," he kept up. "You get there, meet them, and-"

"And his sister's there, even though he didn't tell me she was going to be and her kids are there and I just… I dunno. I felt really...stupid." Shane was silent then, listening as she swallowed before saying, "I felt like a kid or something. That had done wrong. And Paul's so mature about stuff and… I dunno. They were nice."

"Nice nice? Or just cordial?"

"I dunno. A mixture?"

"Are you asking me? Or-"

"It was just… The first day was just awkward," she reiterated. "I didn't know what to talk about and Paul hadn't seen them in awhile, so he kept ignoring me. His nephew and niece really wanted his attention and he really wanted me to talk to his parents and sister."

"What did you talk about?"

"Everything under the sun other than the one thing they probably really wanted to talk about."

"Nah." Shane patted his younger sister on the head, getting a wry grin for it. "They probably felt awkward about it too. And besides, I'm sure Paul told them to be extra nice to you."

"Yeah, I know."

"I mean, it is his job on the line-"

"Enough. I'm about to be the one to walk away."

That time, he left his hand on her head as he said, "You said you saw them that first day. Did you see them again?"

Nodding, she said, "We met up with them for dinner, that second day. And then you know after that I had to leave town."

"How was dinner then?"

"Better. His sister wasn't there or her kids, so Paul was more focused in, you know, on making sure things went better."

"Plus you probably felt better, right?" Shane offered up. "Because it wasn't the first time you saw them? But the second?"

"Not much, I guess, but kind of better. Paul kept getting, like, hounded by all these people that knew him though."

"You use it as a chance to expand the brand?"

"Always."

"Good girl."

That got her to giggle finally. "He was so embarrassed too, after it happened, oh, for the fifth time, because he just wanted to spend all the time trying to get me and his parents to be, like, friends or something."

"Or at least to the point where they don't completely hate your guts and-"

"I was serious about-"

"I bet they were really weary about you, at first, but ended up thinking you were great, Steph." Dropping his hand from her head, he added, "You're a real charmer. It's a McMahon trait."

"Oh, I bet."

"I mean, sure, they were probably poisoned on you, you know, after-"

"Shane-"

"-watching you on TV and stuff."

She blinked, having not expected that. "They're not twelve, you know."

"I know. But still," he insisted. "Even if you know it's all fake, if you see someone acting like a major bitch constantly on television, you tend to kind of sort of think of them that way, true or not."

"I guess."

"But now they got something new to think about you, so it's all great!" That time he clapped her on the shoulder. "I bet the next time you see them, it'll be even better."

"Or even worse," she griped, just a bit. "If they've decided that they don't like me."

"Did you miss the charming bit?"

"Maybe they don't like charming. Or maybe they do and I wasn't. Or maybe-"

"What did Hunter say? Huh? Did he act like they'd been miserable?"

Shaking her head a bit, Steph said, "He got annoyed with me that I kept worrying about it. He acted like everything went great and I was just fretting over nothing."

"Probably true."

"You didn't see the way that they looked at me when I first walked in. Like-"

"But it got better, you said," he reminded her, not wanting her to go off on a tangent. "Right?"

"Slightly, yeah."

"You didn't think that you would just come in and be, like, best friends with his mother or something, did you?"

"That was the best case scenario," she told him with a sigh. "What I thought would happen did."

"Curious about-"

"Worst case scenario? They straight to my face told me that they hated me and liked Joanie more and that I was, like, a slut or something."

He nodded. "Figured."

"So I guess it went okay then. Right?"

"Between those two extremes, sure."

"Good." She took in a deep breath before letting it out slowly. "Very good."

"Would you go with him again? To New Hampshire?"

"Of course," she said without even thinking. "If he ever asks."

"Bet he will." Shane laughed, softly, before glancing at the ground. "Marissa's parents didn't like me either. At first."

"That's because you don't possess that McMahon charm that Dad and I do." Steph grinned up at him. "At all."

"Is that right?"

"That's right."

"Explains why I've already landed my wife," he pointed out, "and you're still party of one."

"Party of dating very exclusively."

She set him up for it. Right then. But instead of taking the easy jab, Shane already said, "That sounds like a pretty shitty party, personally, but whatever."

Patting then at the pocket of her jeans, she quickly wiggled out the fake wedding band that she wore during the show and moved to slip it on. Then, shoving it in her brother's face, she said, "As far as anyone's concerned, I'm married. Real life."

"Uh-huh." He made a face at her. "Carry that around a lot, do you?"

"Shut up."

"Gonna give new reasons to Hunter's parents for them to hate you soon enough."

"Paul's parents." She slipped the ring right back off and put it in her pocket once more. "Hunter was hatched, I'm sure. From what though, I don't know."

"From the same egg as you, I'm sure."

Scrunching up her face, she said, "Ew, Shane. What are you implying?"

He gave her just as disgusted look back. "That the two of you are both the product of evil. Nasty mind."

"Only when you're sending nasty thoughts into it."

"Yeah, okay."

"Yeah, okay is right."

"You're the one that kept trying to fill my head with thoughts of you and your stupid boyfriend back at his house for the first time-"

"You're the one that keeps bring it up! And I was never doing that to begin with."

"Yeah, sure."

"You're right. I am sure. Because- Ooh, Paul!"

And there went Shane's little sister. He watched too as she popped right off the trunk they were seated on, practically bouncing as Hunter (or Paul, whatever she wanted to call him; he knew him as annoying fuck that ruined his family for a bit, but whatever) came right over to her.

They were having such a good time too, him and her. For, like, the first time in months. Shane could only watched as the other man, once standing before his sister, moved to cup her cheeks in his hands.

"S'up, Steph?" he whispered before leaning down to kiss her.

And not just a normal kiss either. One that went on for far too long. Long enough for Shane to gag and push to his feet. It was once he was standing though that Paul (Hunter/Triple H/Proverbial Douche) acknowledged him.

"Oh, hey, Shane," he greeted as he pulled back a bit from Steph, hands falling from her cheeks so that he could pull the woman to him. "Didn't see you there."

Of course.

Still, to keep up appearances (if his sister had been nice to Steph, Shane figured he was supposed to be nice to Paul), the man nodded at him. "Yeah, hey. How's it going?"

"Don't now how it's going, but I do know," the wrestler said, speaking more to Steph then as he fully let her go then, though it was just to slip off his leather jacket, "that I'm going to lunch now. You comin'? Steph?"

"Of course," she said with a giggle as she slipped the jacket on, her and Paul's eyes never leaving one another's. Staring up at him, she asked, "How was your meeting?"

"Shit. Just like all meetings."

"Paul-"

"Fine. It was fine. Great even."

Turning and grabbing the papers where she left them on the trunk, she then thought to speak to her brother, only to notice he was already walking away, down the hall. "Shane, did you wanna come with-"

"I'll catch you later, Steph," was the response she got from over his shoulder, the man holding a hand up in the air as if to wave at her. "And...you too, Hunter."

That was actually for the best, as far as Paul was concerned, and he only moved to toss an arm around his woman before leading her the opposite way. "What are you in the mood for, princess? Pizza?" Not waiting for her to answer, he said, "Pizza."

Steph was in the mood for her brother and boyfriend being bigger men and not always avoiding one another, but she figured she should be happy with what she got.

"Why?" she asked as she leaned into him a bit as they walked along. "So that you can just get a salad and I can feel extra fat?"

"No," he said in a drawn out way. Glancing down at her, he said, "So that I can get a salad and then steal your pizza, but not feel bad about myself. Duh."

"Duh."

Leaning down, Paul pressed a long kiss to the top of his girlfriend's head before saying, "You have a good...whatever it was you and your brother were doing while I was super busy?"

Stephanie let out a long breath that he feared would turn into a rant of some kind, but instead she only replied, "Yeah. I did."

"Good." He hugged her to him, nearly causing her to trip. "Very good."

* * *

 **Another request filled. I got asked by someone to write about Steph meeting Paul's parents, but also got asked by someone to do the same, but with something added onto it. To keep them from being too similar, I made the first one kind of Steph rehashing what happened. Just to stay original.**

 **Really was pumped during RAW tonight. First one I've been able to catch in about three weeks (I've been moving) and I thought it was great. I heard a lot of unsavory things about Summer Slam, so I would definitely assume that was redemption.**


End file.
